As originally announced last year, the largest gathering of
Nobel laureates in Asia will be held in Beijing from May 30 to June
1, according to city and central government officials
yesterday.
"This will be the first time that as many as eight Nobel
laureates -- their work spanning various specialities in economics
-- have been invited by an Asian country for an economic policy
forum," said the capital's vice-mayor, Zhang Mao.
Among the group will be Edward Prescott, who won the prize last
year, Robert A. Mundell, John F. Nash, Robert W. Fogel, Joseph E.
Stiglitz, James A. Mirrlees, Vernon L. Smith and Clive W. J.
Granger.
The Nobel Laureates Beijing Forum is sponsored by the State
Council's Development Research Center (DRC) and Beijing's municipal
government.
The laureates and five other eminent economists will meet
officials, researchers and entrepreneurs, and the DRC will hold a
special seminar with them on May 31.
Discussion topics include the Olympic economy, education and
economic growth, as well as urban development.
Some of the laureates know the Chinese economy intimately;
Mundell published Inflation and Growth in China in 1996, and
Mirrlees has been a government adviser, a professor at the Chinese
University of Hong Kong and honorary professor at Peking
University.
"However, the forum will not discuss any China-specific issue,"
said Li Jiange, DRC vice-minister, "The forum, which has a global
vision, will focus on long-term economic strategy."
(China Daily May 11, 2005)